Ítaca

Conheci o poema abaixo em uma versão espanhola, enviada pela Jéssica... Algumas pessoas sabem que, desde então, tem me corroido os pensamentos. Não conhecia Cavaky e, agora, depois de breves incursões por algumas coisas suas, acho-o parecido a Pessoa, parecido a José Régio... Filhos do mesmo tempo? Quem se animar, aí vai um link, onde podem encontrar a obra poética completa, taduzida ao inglês: www.cavafy.com. Como não sei grego - quem sabe o Digo ou a Jose me ajudassem a sair desse imbróglio - ofereço duas traduções contrastantes.

Estou me organizando para escrever sobre isso. Comentários, impressões e desaforos são, portanto, muito bem-vindos.

Saudades aumentadas pelo silêncio de muitos.

Marcelo

 

 

 

Ithaka
Constatine Petrou Cavafy

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
 
Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.
 
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
 
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
 
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

 
 
Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard
www.cavafy.com

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Ithaka
Constatine Petrou Cavafy

When you set out for distant Ithaca,
fervently wish your journey may be long, —
full of adventures and with much to learn.
Of the Laestrygones and the Cyclopes,
of the angry god Poseidon, have no fear:
these you shall not encounter, if your thought
remains at all times lofty, — if select
emotion touches you in body and spirit.
Not the Laestrygones, not the Cyclopes,
nor yet the fierce Poseidon, shall you meet,
unless you carry them within your soul, —
unless your soul should raise them to confront you.
 
Fervently wish your journey may be long.
May they be numerous — the summer mornings
when, pleased and joyous, you will be anchoring
in harbours you have never seen before.
Stay at the populous Phoenician marts,
and make provision of good merchandise;
coral and mother of pearl; and ebony
and amber; and voluptuous perfumes
of every kind, in lavish quantity.
Sojourn in many a city of the Nile,
and from the learned learn and learn amain.
 
At every stage bear Ithaca in mind.
The arrival there is your appointed lot.
But hurry not the voyage in the least:
’twere better if you travelled many years
and reached your island home in your old age,
being rich in riches gathered on the way,
and not expecting more from Ithaca.
 
Ithaca gave you the delightful voyage:
without her you would never have set out:
and she has nothing else to give you now.
 
And though you should find her wanting, Ithaca
will not surprise you; for you will arrive
wise and experienced, having long since perceived
the unapparent sense in Ithacas.

 
 
Translated by John Cavafy